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The San Francisco 49ers and Baltimore Ravens won’t kick off Super Bowl XLVII until Sunday afternoon, but the annual blitz of TV advertising on the big game has already begun.

Extending a trend that has coincided with the rise of YouTube, Twitter, Facebook and mobile devices, advertisers like Volkswagen, Audi, Toyota, Taco Bell, Century 21, Doritos and Mercedes-Benz have already launched their Super Bowl campaigns online by posting teasers, related contests or full-blown versions of the spots that will air during the game.

Some, like one of Volkswagen’s “Get Happy” spots, and another featuring supermodel Kate Upton getting a Mercedes-Benz CLA washed, are already generating thousands of views – as well as controversy.

But generating buzz any way possible is the name of the game in advertising. And this year more than ever, that means getting it going before and during the game as well as after the final whistle blows.

Advertisers are “still using the Super Bowl as that ‘big bang,’ but what they’re trying to do is extend the life of it,” said Robert Tuchman, president of Goviva, a New York sports and entertainment marketing firm. “You couldn’t do that 10 years ago, or even five or six years ago.”

Ad evolution

The last time the Niners played for the NFL championship in 1995, the goal for TV advertisers was simpler – get as much mileage as they could out of one 30-second spot costing $1.15 million. The hope: make a lasting impression with viewers and see their ad become the talk of office water-cooler discussions the next day.

But the evolution of YouTube as an online video site, the growing use of mobile devices that are now a required “second-screen” to the TV monitor, and the growing popularity of social media have all drastically changed the game for advertisers, who this year are paying a reported $3.8 million to $4 million per 30-second spot.

Today’s strategy: Get people to watch commercials before the game, share them with their friends and family on Facebook and Twitter, and talk about the brands again after the game.

“Anything that keeps the conversation going,” said Lucy Farey-Jones, partner and head of strategy for independent ad agency Venables Bell & Partners of San Francisco.

Choosing endings

Venables Bell is the agency behind Audi of America’s new Super Bowl spot, which went online Jan. 24. It’s a 60-second story of an insecure teen headed to his school prom who becomes emboldened by driving his father’s Audi S6. The campaign also asked viewers to vote for one of three endings that will air during the game and include – like most of the commercials this year – tie-ins to Twitter and Facebook. By Tuesday, the video had more than 1.8 million views on YouTube.

A consumer study by Venables Bell backs up the new social-media-based strategy: More than half of Americans will re-watch the commercials, while 40 percent will share them, predominantly through Facebook. About 68 percent of Millennial generation respondents, a key demographic for advertisers, said they planned to share their favorite ad.

The study also said 42 percent planned to search for commercials to watch in the week or two before the Super Bowl, up from 32 percent two years ago. Also, 32 percent said they were likely to discuss the best commercial the next day, as many as said they would likely talk about the game’s best play.

Further, 13 percent overall, and 21 percent of Millennials, said they would pay 99 cents to watch the Super Bowl commercials.

Tangentially, the study found that about 28 percent of Super Bowl viewers think they’ll have a hangover on Monday. But even that’s important to advertisers: Heavier drinkers were far more likely to share their favorite ads on Twitter and Facebook.

VW trailblazer

Two years ago, Volkswagen blazed a trail with pregame ads by posting its clever “The Force” ad, featuring a pint-sized Darth Vader, online four days before the game. The 60-second video went viral in a big way and to date has been viewed more than 56 million times on YouTube.

In context, that’s slightly more than half the number of viewers for last year’s Super Bowl, which was the most watched U.S. telecast ever with 111.3 million.

So this year, the big rush started last week. Coca-Cola posted a teaser to its “Coke Chase” commercial online on Jan. 22 and invited fans to vote for one of three groups chasing after a big bottle of the soft drink. The campaign ties in Facebook and a Twitter hashtag.

Twitter works with big brands to help them navigate its quirky world of hashtags, nuanced vernacular and quirky messaging rules.

Carmaker Lincoln – whose vehicles are generally seen as appealing to an older crowd – even used Twitter and celebrity firepower from comedian Jimmy Fallon to rebrand itself and build a Super Bowl commercial out of suggestions from Twitter users. That not only helps Lincoln appear more hip and modern but also reinforces Twitter as one of the go-to places when taking the public pulse.

Few tech spots

These days, Apple needs only to spit to gain attention and doesn’t need a Super Bowl spot. In fact, only a few tech companies, including E-Trade, Cars. com, Samsung, Research In Motion and perennial GoDaddy.com are on the Super Bowl ad roster.

So barring a last-minute move, like the one Google made two years ago to air its “Parisian Love” search spot, the 49ers will be the only local company on the air during Sunday’s game.

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Benny Evangelista is a technology reporter for The Chronicle. He's been writing about tech for Bay Area newspapers since the mid-1990s, back when skeptics still scoffed at ticketless airline reservations, online banking and Apple's ability to grab marketshare from Microsoft. Going even further back, he remembers having to get up off the couch and turning the dial'' to switch TV channels. He chronicled the rise and fall of the original Napster, then moved from writing about MP3s to producing them as a multimedia journalist.